Perhaps what resonates most from this collection is that whatever the subject matter, Wollstonecraft’s exhortation has been heeded throughout: ‘Women – endeavour to acquire/strength, both of mind and body,/ soft phrases, susceptibility/ of heart, delicacy of sentiment…’.

a compelling collection… captivating prosody… sharp irony … fresh, thought-provoking… clear riveting lines… The poems collected in the anthology form an absorbing analysis condensing some major issues in the vindication of women’s rights since Mary Wollstonecraft. They are a tribute commemorating women’s past sufferings and perseverance, and they point to present commitment to an ongoing fight.

Like this:

The launch of Jeremy Dixon‘s poetry collection, In Retail seems to have met management guidelines for a successful promotion, we hope to bring you photos and video shortly, but as these were outsourced from Arachne’s web, to local operatives, I can’t tell you exactly when.

In the meantime, we’ve been getting some feedback over on our shop page, with universal 5 star reviews. (Of course, these are all from people who pre-ordered, so we can assume they were quite keen in the first place) but you can now not only buy a copy from us direct, but leave your thoughts afterwards, like these lovely folk.

Jeremy’s poems are like stars in a bleak landscape, beautiful, funny and life affirming
Jane A. Verified buyer February 11, 2019

Flying into Amsterdam
I see how a giant comb has pulled the hairs of the fields
into straight, wet lines, how the occasional hedge
runs on wiry feet away from the open,
how as the plane tilts
the edge of the water-land-water seems ghostly as the meniscus
an empty glass has left behind,
how the many transparent
voices of water thicken in canals
and the old windows in the city
are so like rolled water you wait for fish
to swim through their bubbles.

When I left the branches across our yard
were empty. Now small green fists
punch out space.

Foraging finds sustenance in the relics of our personal and collective histories, whether droll, sobering, or sad. Howard’s confident insights show love and respect for “that same tide / which will come for all of us” (“Going Back”).

One of those reviews that reminds me all over again just why I published a book. (She even mentioned how much she likes the cover.)

‘There are moments when I would give anything just to get into a car and drive home, saying I was fed up with the whole show and they could look for someone else to fill my job. The making of plans is child’s play as compared with putting them into execution.’

It may be the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, but for me it’s been a summer of war, reading the edited WWII diaries of Alan Brooke. Brooke masterminded the very tricky retreat of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk, and then oversaw Home Defence during 1940 when a Nazi invasion seemed imminent. For the last four and a half years of the war, he was at Churchill’s right hand day and (often) night, advising on military strategy as Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

The diary was written as a daily note to his wife back in Hampshire, about events at the decision-making hub in London, and became a safety-valve for a man experiencing almost unbearable stress and responsibility. Reading it, you’re closer to the uncertainty, fear and anxiety of the lived experience than any detached historical account can provide. It demonstrates the value of an immediate record, both as a historical source and also as an insight into the individual human psyche during momentous events.

I’ve been deeply impressed by Brooke – a man who managed to negotiate tricky human situations as well as military ones. It was a revelation to me how much skill was needed to steer Churchill and our American allies, let alone to devise overall military strategy.

Because the US had the greater number of allied forces in 1944, Brooke was passed over as Commander of Overlord in favour of Eisenhower. In his diary, he expresses deep frustration and concern at the American general’s often hesitant strategy, feeling the war in Europe could and should have been concluded that autumn, with a very different outcome for the political map of Europe.

March 5th 1945

‘Breakfast with Ike and another long talk with him. There is no doubt that he is a most attractive personality and, at the same time, a very, very limited brain from a strategic point of view… He only sees the worst side of Monty and cannot appreciate the better side… I see trouble ahead before too long.’

Brooke may have received all the official honours due to him, becoming Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke. But this modest man, whose name, I feel, should stand as high as Nelson’s in our national consciousness, had to sell his beloved collection of bird books after the war, when his military pension was insufficient to support his family.

I’m grateful that Brooke finally agreed to make public what is a very private and personal document. So many similar texts are destroyed by their authors, out of consideration for their own reputations as well as others’. But what a unique form of writing a diary is, when it’s done with such non-self-regarding honesty.

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